High resolution images have been taken of the entire 226,657 square-mile island of Madagascar in a scheme designed to protect its unique natural heritage and safeguard its most endangered species.

Madagascar is regarded as a biodiversity hotspot and renowned for its variety of wildlife with 80 per cent of its 30,000 known species, from lemurs to brightly coloured chameleons, found nowhere else on the planet.

The international team involved in the unprecedented survey was led by conservation biologists at the University of California, Berkeley and included experts from both the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew and the Natural History Museum.

Using high-tec tools that had previously never been available they were able to analyse a huge range of 2,315 species from six major groups: lemurs, butterflies, frogs, geckos, ants and plants over a wide area.

The blueprint produced could fundamentally change the way conservation priorities are mapped around the world.

Unlike most conservation projects which focus on a particular species the study used new techniques to identify the areas most important for saving the highest percentage of fauna and flora. The aim was to find the most effective areas for expanding the island's existing network of nature reserves.

The task was made more difficult by the complex distribution patterns of the Indian Ocean island's unique plants and animals, many of which do not overlap.

The team started with distribution, conservation and status data on all species in the six groups and then added data on habitat suitability from satellite images and several layers of climatic information including average monthly temperature and rainfall.

The research showed that conserving the habitat of only one group excluded up to 50 per cent of rare species from other groups. And giving priority to one group in any given area in Madagascar would exclude up to 39 per cent of all species.

The study has provided a map that highlights the areas and species most in need of protection. It also highlighted habitats overlooked in the past, such as coastal forests and central mountain ranges with small pockets of trees.

Madagascar's nature reserves have previously concentrated on scenic isolated blocks of forest, without an overview of how they are connected.

The study has resulted in a conservation plan that will build on the 6.3 percent of the island's land already under some form of natural reserve status, which currently protects some 70 percent of the species in the study.

The study recommends how the reserve system should be expanded within the target of an additional 3.7 percent to boost the number of protected target species.

David Lees, butterfly researcher at the Natural History Museum and a co-author of the study, said: "Our results have shown that basing conservation on the needs of single species groups like butterflies just isn't enough.

"It is now feasible to map the complex web of life in the world's richest wildlife areas to help guide tough conservation choices, and increase chances of survival in the face of climate change."

Alison Cameron, co-lead researcher of the project, at University of California Berkeley, said: "Madagascar is one of the poorest countries in the world, which makes the government's commitment to biodiversity even more remarkable.

"Government leaders have developed a very progressive vision for social and economic development, in which the natural landscape is viewed as a valuable resource."

It is hoped the study will help the Malagasy government reach a commitment made at the World Parks Congress in 2003 when President Marc Ravalomanana pledged to triple Madagascar's protected area network to 10 per cent of its land mass.